1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a seat for vehicles with a child's seat fixed to it. For clarification, hereinafter, the former and the latter are referred to as "vehicle seat" and "child's seat", respectively.
2. Discussion of Background
Conventionally, a child's seat is generally fixed to a vehicle seat such that its lower portion of fastened on the vehicle seat by for example a seat belt. It has been proposed that an upper portion of the child's seat is also fastened such that a hook on an upper end of the child's seat is engaged with a tether anchor on a rear surface of a seatback of the vehicle seat or at an other position inside the vehicle.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vehicle seat 1 of the type as described above in which reference numeral 2 represents a seat portion; 3, a seatback foldable with respect to the seat portion 2; and 4, a child's seat fixed to the vehicle seat 1. In use of the child's seat 4, a seat belt 6 is passed through a through hole 5 on a lower portion of the child's seat 4 and is fixed to the vehicle body. Then, a hook 8 attached via a belt 7 to an upper end of the child's seat 4 is locked on a tether anchor 9 at a rear surface of the seatback 3. Thus, the upper portion of the child's seat 4 s fixed to an upper portion 10 of the seatback 3.
FIGS. 2 and 3 represent a further example of a tether anchor arrangement in which the tether anchor 14 to be described below in detail is disposed on a mount 12 in the form of a parcel board 11 behind a back seat of a vehicle and is covered with a cover 13.
More specifically, as best shown in FIG. 3, the cover 13 is mounted on the parcel board 11 together with the tether anchor 14, using a bolt 16 which passes through the board 11 and an partition panel 15 below the board 11 and over which a nut 17 is screwed. The cover 13 is pivotable upward about a thinned portion 18 to uncover the tether anchor 14 which is formed with a lock hole 19.
When the child's seat is not used, the tether anchor 14 is covered with the cover 13 so as not to be seen from outside. When the child's seat is to be used, the cover 13 is swung upward to uncover the tether anchor 14; and the hook 8 attached via the belt 7 to the upper end of the child's seat 4 in a manner like to the example shown in FIG. 1 is engaged with the lock hole 19 so that the child's seat is fixed.
However, in the conventional structure shown in FIG. 1, the tether anchor 9 is protruded from the rear surface of the seatback 3, which gives poor external appearance and deteriorates loading ability of the vehicle seat when the seatback 3 is folded. Such projection also limits movement of an occupant in the vehicle to impair comfortability in the vehicle. Even in the conventional structure shown in FIG. 2 which has the cover 13 to conceal the tether anchor 14 which the child's seat is not used, the cover 13 itself is protruded extensively from the parcel board 11 so that external appearance is not improved so much. Moreover, when the child's seat is to be used, the tether anchor 14 is uncovered for engagement of the hook 8 with the lock hole 19 so that the inside of the cover 13 and the tether anchor 14 are exposed. Thus, the problem of poor external appearance still remains as in the case of the structure shown in FIG. 1.
The present invention was made in view of the above and has its object to improve external appearance of a seat for vehicles with a tether anchor which serves for fixing of an upper portion of a child's seat and to avoid deterioration of loading ability of the vehicle seat and comfortability of an occupant in the vehicle.